Aikuchi

[BIG]

Hi

 

Got That Topic in a gone European Board.Small Results.

 

Weapon:

 

For Samurai

Retired Samurai

Yakuza

Retired Chairman

Women

Farmer

Merchant, Markus Write in his KOSHIRAE ... No danger of confusion...

A Nihonto for all?

[kusunokimasahige]

What is your specific question ? Please be more elaborate.

 

KM

[Geraint]

Or perhaps more specific.

[BIG]

Asking for the specific historical Story of the Aikuchi

 

Found so much different Info and Stories, it's really unbelivable.

 

Where Starts the history? WHO Used and owned that weapon?

 

.... Maybe someone gives a " Short " Story .

 

Thanks for any efforts !

[Jean]

What is an aikuchi for you, Peter?

[ROKUJURO]

Peter,

 

you ask a lot when you expect someone to write an article for you on AIKUCHI. There are informations here on the NMB and books 'en masse' which cover this subject in detail.

[BIG]

Yes indeed,

Its a "Short" Nihonto mounted without a tsuba.

[BIG]

And Jean That's the Point.

[Jean]

It is only a knife in a special mount, that's all. Search the web for aikuchi tanto.

 

Edit to add aikuchi means mouthless (if I remember well) and it applies to a koshirae without tsuba:

 

Aikuchi: The aikuchi is a tantō koshirae where the fuchi is flush with the mouth of the saya. There is no tsuba on this form of tantō. Aikuchi normally have plain wood tsuka, and many forms of aikuchi have kashira that are made from animal horns.

 

Edit to add: nothing exiting

[Tcat]

Hi Peter,

 

I have always taken his to be the closest succinct description (conveniently found on Wikipedia):

 

Aikuchi

The aikuchi (匕首?) (literally "fitting mouth") is a form of mounting for small Japanese swords in which the handle and the scabbard meet without a guard (tsuba) in between. Originally used on the koshigatana (a precursor to the wakizashi) to facilitate close wearing with armor, it became a fashionable upper-class mounting style for tantō (daggers) from the Kamakura period onwards.

 

According to S. Alexander Takeuchi from University of North Alabama, Department of Sociology, aikuchi, is a form of koshirae (mounting style) which commonly was used in tantō creation. The nomenclature of the word "aikuchi" is the following: the Japanese: ai is a gerund which means meeting and Japanese: kuchi is a noun that means mouth. The same formula is used in koi-guchi. So, aikuchi initially was a style of mounting in which the fuchi meets with the koi-guchi.

 

What I have extrapolated from this is: aikuchi are without tsuba in order for them to be worn closer to the body. This can be desirable for the wearer in certain situations with or without armour. The aikuchi "style" and its development are linked to both use of armour and court fashion. Reading between the lines, it may be easier to quickly draw an aikuchi mounted blade when worn close to the body by virtue of the fact that it has no guard to catch on loose clothing, armor, or nearby objects. Swords like this are also marginally easier to conceal under clothing.

[kusunokimasahige]

As far as I know Aikuchi were sometimes used concealed inside the kimono.

 

Also court dress would have made use of the Aikuchi rather than a wakizashi or normal tanto.

 

Here is a high class example which, looking at the horn hook on it would have been worn in the obi.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... imitsu.jpg

[b.hennick]

I have a large tanto with a koiguchi (scabbard mouth) that looks like a tsuba. It is an aikuchi mount. I have owned an aikuchi mounted katana as well. So there is a lot that does not fit the standard deffinitions given. In the study of Japanese swords having no exception to the rule is the exception :D

[kusunokimasahige]

True !

 

It might also be interesting to see what kind of period imagery (on scrolls etcetera) exist where Aikuchi are worn.

 

Example :

 

 

The man on the left.

 

KM

[Marius]

It might also be interesting to see what kind of period imagery (on scrolls etcetera) exist where Aikuchi are worn.

 

Here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16175&hilit=uchigatana+scroll

[kusunokimasahige]

Thank you Mariusz !!

 

KM

[Marius]

You are welcome, Henk-Jan

 

Aikuchi seems a relatively "new" term, as is tanto. It is also worth to consider the "Kenshin koshirae" used with a long uchigatana - they have no tsuba...

[BIG]

Hi

Thanks so far, especially Henk-Jan and Mariuszk !

 

Best regards